She's the Man?
by dignitea
Summary: A story about what would have happened if Duke found out about Viola's secret right after the carnival, and how it would affect the rest of the story. I know this has been done before but, I thought I'd try my own version. Rated T for swearing.


A few things I forgot to add when I first uploaded this:

I do not own or claim to own anything related to She's the Man.

Also you'll notice I mixed up a scene and cut some material. I moved Viola and Duke's talk about dating earlier so it could occur before Duke finds out.

That's all! Reviews are wonderful to receive!

The night before the carnival, 'Sebastian' and Duke were alone in their room, relaxing and playing video games. 'Sebastian' was winning. The subject of dating was brought up, and 'Sebastian' made a snide comment that she likened from something she thought her ex, Justin Drayton, would say.

"The question I always ask is, which one (girl) would I rather see naked?" 'Sebastian' thought it would be better to blend in this way.

Duke, however, looked disgusted and paused the game, "Why, why do you always have to talk about girls in such graphic terms? Huh?" he demanded, shaking his head, "You know, you…you have issues, man." Although Duke didn't particularly _mind_ his roommate, Duke couldn't stand it when 'Sebastian' acted like a disgusting jerk. In his opinion, that wasn't an esteemed character quality.

Confused, Viola sat up and looked at Duke, "You're a really sensitive guy, aren't you?" Perhaps she had misjudged him. Maybe he wasn't just another jock, like Justin, after all.

"What?" Duke's voice went higher as he tried to defend himself. "No." Grabbing his soccer ball from under his seat, he added, "I don't know it's just," he twirled his ball in his hand, "look, I just think a relationship should be more than just the physical stuff, like…I mean," he tried to correct himself, "don't get me wrong, that stuff's important but, I don't know, when I'm with someone, I wanna be able to talk about other stuff. Kinda like, serious stuff. Stuff I can't talk about with anyone else," Duke explained. For the first time in a while, he was being straight up open.

Viola smiled to herself, she was definitely wrong about Duke. Covering up her facial features, she faced the TV screen, "Yea? Like…what kind of stuff?"

"I don't know," Duke let out an airy laugh, "just stuff. Whatever stuff there is."

Viola let a beat pass before she spoke again, "Like, this kind of stuff?"

Duke nodded, he could tell, his roommate got it. Maybe the whole womanizer thing was an act, "Yea." He blinked, "But what I just told you, is for your ears only. If you tell anyone, I'll…kick your ass." He threw the soccer ball at 'Sebastian' half-heartedly, watching as 'Sebastian' caught it and nodded,

"Yea, no, I got your back man. It's cool." They turned back to the game and Viola couldn't help but smile to herself.

The day of the carnival, the alarm on the nightstand beeped and buzzed incessantly until Duke, or 'Sebastian', it was too dark in the room to tell, hit the _off _button.

"The guys and I are going down to grab some food; you can meet us there," Duke stated, pulling on his Ducati jacket before he looked back to his left at 'Sebastian' who was still buttoning up his red plaid shirt.

"Alright, catch you then." Viola agreed, trying her best to use her 'guy' voice. Duke nodded and headed out the door, and Viola waited until she couldn't hear his footsteps descending the stairs. When she couldn't, she quickly ducked down and reached under her bed for her bag that contained her 'girl' clothes. Grabbing a small backpack, she stuffed her red dress into the backpack, along with adequate 'girl' shoes (though she saw nothing wrong with the converse she wore now). After packing whatever else she might need for the carnival, she stuffed the backpack under her bed and went to the mirror to check her wig.

Staring at her reflection she heaved a big breath of air, "Being two people at once is not gonna be easy," she muttered to herself. With that, she went downstairs to meet Toby, Andrew and Duke for a midday meal before they left.

Walking through the entrance of the carnival, 'Sebastian' addressed Duke, "Alright, I'm gonna tell you the truth, never really liked carnivals," Sebastian stated. _Especially not this one._

Before Duke could respond, Olivia approached them, calling out, "Hey! I'm working at the kissing booth. Come and see me," she finished, flashing that million dollar smile that _every_ boy loved.

Duke watched her walk away and seemed to be in a daze, "I love carnivals, man," he mumbled, and began striding towards the kissing booth, hardly believing this chance. He finally had the opportunity to kiss Olivia.

Before he could get very far, however, 'Sebastian' called out to him, "Hey! Dude where you going?"

Duke scoffed, "Where do you think I'm going?" he gestured the way Olivia had gone and continued on his way, well unaware of any disappointed thoughts in 'Sebastian', or rather, Viola's head. Viola didn't have much time to think about anything else as she caught sight of her brother's ex girlfriend. _Ex-girlfriend that I have to deal with._

"Uh oh." 'Sebastian' turned to have his back towards Monique, facing Toby and Andrew.

"What's up?"

"Hm? Oh uh, nothin'. Just my psycho ex." Viola tried to downplay his panic, unsure of how a guy would act in this situation. "So, I don't really want to deal with her. If you guys don't mind, I'm gonna lay low for a little while."

"Alright, cool! Catch up with you later." And with that, Viola was off.

Once Viola reached the portable bathrooms, she rushed to the front of the line and squeezed in before it was taken, shouting back at the woman she had slighted, "Sorry! Pretty urgent." Inside, she changed as quickly as possible and left, "it's all yours."

Now dressed in a fitted red dress, she made her way to a booth where she knew she could check in with her mom. Once there, Viola tried to put on a happy façade of a person who positively loved being a debutante. '_When do I get to be me again?_' she asked herself irritably.

Seeing her mom, she rushed up, "Hi mom!"

"Ooh! You look like such a lady! It's a miracle!" Her mother was positively ecstatic at her change in wardrobe. _If she would've seen me five minutes ago._

"It really is," she assured her mom.

"So," her mom began, "Monique is getting you all excited about being a debutant huh?"

"Super duper excited!" Viola added a lisp to her statement, faking her excitement to an extreme, although her mom would never notice. As there was a pause in the conversation, Viola took this opportunity to escape, "Have a good carnival!"

However, her mom caught her arm, "Whoa whoa my little petunia, where do you think you're going?" Viola groaned in protest internally, of course her mother would have other plans for her. "You have the next shift at the kissing booth," her mom droned on, "and where's your brother? He's late for the cotton candy cart!"

Seeing her chance, Viola spoke up, "I'm gonna go look for him!" Before her mom could catch her again, she turned and sped away

Meanwhile, Duke was making his way over to the kissing booth. He was deep in his own thoughts when he realized someone ran into him. At first irritation struck him, but common sense and courtesy assured him it must've been an accident. He steadied the girl with his hand on her elbow, fully prepared to ask if she was okay. But as he took her appearance in, confusion flashed in his mind. The lovely, though flustered, looking girl who stood in front of him looked faintly familiar.

After stumbling to find his words, he asked, "Do I know you?" And when looking down at her features, he saw her face contort into surprise, and then…fear?

_Of course I would run into Duke of all people. _Viola was panicking; she had to get away from Duke as soon as possible before he figured it out.

"No!" she denied his question, turning around as soon as she had and started rushing off the other way.

Duke started to say something else, and made a move to stop her from running off, but he gave up. After thinking it over a minute he shook his head to try to clear it out of his mind, and walked over to the kissing booth, where he waited in line.

As Viola was rushing off, she happened to run into the second guy who she didn't want to see: Justin. He stopped her before she could rush past him, grabbing her by the arm roughly and holding her, "Viola!" he exclaimed, "Hey, hey, where you been? I've been calling and calling. I miss you, we need to talk," he insisted, standing domineeringly over her.

Viola rolled her eyes as soon as she realized he had caught her, turning to face him, she decided to get this over with as soon as possible.

"We've talked, Justin! All the talking is done," she emphasized, tired of his snobbish antics.

He laughed and looked around, he wouldn't loose this argument. He tried to reason with her, "Look, no one breaks up over a stupid soccer issue okay? Can you just be a girl for five seconds?" he asked condescendingly.

"For five seconds?" Viola cocked her eyebrow and raised her hand up near her face as a fist, "Okay, um," where to begin, "First of all, it's not a stupid soccer issue," each finger went up as a second passed, "and, you're a jerk!" She glanced at her hand and waved her fingers near his face, "Ah, look at that! Time's up," she squealed, hoping he would get the message as she drew her hand to his cheek and hit him. She turned, and walked off.

Meanwhile, Duke was next in line at the kissing booth to kiss Olivia. He turned to look down at his friends, who stayed standing away from the line, watching him psych himself up.

"What do you think it's gonna be like?" He tossed his Ducati jacket nonchalantly to his friends, leaving him in a plain white tee.

"Duke, you look at me. I know, it's gonna be really, really special," Toby assured him, nodding his friend to encourage him. Although Duke acted relaxed most of the time, Andrew and Toby knew how nervous he could get around Olivia, or any girl. "She's only kissed like 350 guys at this point." Toby shrugged, and then raised his eyebrows as the shock hit him.

Andrew spoke up, "I just think we need to acknowledge the moment. After four years, Duke is finally gonna fulfill his destiny. Life is good, life is fair, life is just!" He proclaimed. Duke, while he was talking prepared himself, pressing his fingers to his lips just once to make sure he didn't screw this up.

"And yet…" Andrew grimaced as a girl in a red dress broke up Olivia's kiss with the current customer.

Viola tapped the blonde on the shoulder, "Hi, I'm your relief!" She smiled as the girl stood up and profusely thanked her.

"Thank God! Beware, the old guy chewing gum – it's not gum," the blonde, who Viola now recognized as Olivia, grimaced and Viola made a disgusted noise.

Behind the two girls, Duke was heaving a huge breath and shook his head, "I can't catch a break." He couldn't believe it.

Before Olivia left, she squinted her eyes and looked at Viola, "Do I know you?"

Viola chuckled and brushed her question off, "No!" And with that she turned and approached the next guy in line. _Duke!_

Duke was still muttering to himself as he ushered forward, "It's just my luck." However as soon as he said the words he regretted it. Viola was shocked, though she knew he wanted to kiss Olivia, and not her, she was surprised he would say something so offensive out loud. Her thoughts clearly showed on her face. As Duke tried to cover his mistake, something clicked in his head: she was the girl in the red dress that had run into him. _God, I have a way of putting my foot in my mouth. _

"No, no no no I didn't mean it like that. It's just, you know she's…you know," Viola raised her eyebrows, wondering exactly how he was going to get out of this one. "No," he continued, realizing he was only making it worse, "Okay…I mean on the other hand," he put his hand to his forehead, completely embarrassed and ashamed, "you're you know, also."

Viola couldn't help smiling at his attempt to fix his mistake, "I am? Thanks, I guess." If she hadn't known about his predicament with Olivia, she would've been highly irritated, but now, she couldn't help but find amusement in his befuddlement.

Their awkward dance in conversation was interrupted as a small boy behind them starkly interrupted, "You don't have to flirt with her first, genius," he waved his tickets in the air, "you're paying for it."

Duke slowly turned around, as if he didn't have enough problems right now, this kid had to be on his back, "Why don't you just…relax." Turning back around to face the girl in the red dress, "Um, maybe I should kiss you now. I gave that girl my ticket, and I…I waited in line…" God he couldn't believe what a mess he was making of this. But, she was nice, he noted.

"Well…it's the least I can do." Viola smiled and laughed, it was a nice change of pace to see Duke fumble rather than be the cool kid on the block.

"Here I—here I go." And before each of them knew it, their eyes were closed and their lips were touching. But this wasn't like just another kissing booth kiss. No, their kiss _moved_. Their kiss moved with passion and energy that each was surprised to feel. But before it got too heated, and after Viola began tracing his chin with her fingertips, Duke pulled away, mentally kicking himself for being _responsible_ and restraining himself.

"Okay, I think that was one tickets worth," he rationalized, barely working out a sentence, his eyes closed in a daze.

But, to his pleasure, Viola disagreed, "Nuh uh, you can go a little bit more." And they both eagerly returned to the kiss, finding their way to each other's lips easily even with eyes closed. Duke reached his hands up to cradle her neck and chin while Viola twined her fingers behind his shoulders, both fully entranced, and neither heard the boy behind them.

"Uh, excuse me? The hotel's across the street."

"Viola, what the hell is this?" A sharper, more adult voice sounded and Viola was pulled backwards, leaving Duke and Viola both surprised, their mouths still open and their hands midair.

Duke couldn't help but sigh and resignedly drop his hands to his lap. _Just my luck. _As Duke stood up, he looked at the guy across from him and realized he knew him: Justin Drayton, goalie for Cornwall soccer team. Not only a student from a rival school, but student he didn't have much respect for. This guy was a grade A jerk.

"Scuse me, dufus!" Justin grabbed the stool Viola formerly sat on and pulled it behind him, "You're making out with my girlfriend," he accused possessively.

"_Ex_ – girlfriend," Viola interrupted. Justin did nothing, however, to acknowledge her words but put his hand in front of her face in a silent order to _shut up._

Duke scowled at his treatment of her, '_Asshole_'. But as what Justin said clicked in his mind, he turned to the girl in the red dress, "Whoa, you're – you're Sebastian's sister?" It was more rhetorical than not; now he knew why she looked so familiar.

"And you're about to die," Justin harassed, pushing Duke's shoulder with his hand, asking for a fight.

To this, Duke only chuckled an airy laugh. Stepping forward he looked Justin up and down, "What're you going to do, drown me in your tears?" he challenged, feeling more confident.

Justin jumped to his own defense, "I did not cry during that game, I had something in my eye," he denied.

It was then, that Viola intervened, "Okay you know what guys, can we um, just dial it down and just," she pushed them both apart with her hands, "step away." Hopefully they wouldn't be complete _guys_ and start fighting. To her relief, Duke was the first to tone it down.

"You know what, she's right. I'll see you on the soccer field and we'll settle this all then."

"Okay, dude," Justin agreed, smiling sweetly before turning around and adding, "or we could straighten it out right here!" And with that he swung his fist around, connecting it to Duke's nose with a sharp clap sound. Duke then grabbed his opponent by the waist and the two fell off the stage into a ball of tussling and fist fighting.

Rolling her eyes, Viola rushed down the stairs of the stage and repeatedly tried to break them up.

"Justin! Justin!" she shouted, to no avail. Even after putting herself in front of her ex-boyfriend she was rudely shoved aside. Only then did she resort to hitching a ride on Justin's back, trying to force them apart. A large impact shook her and she realized they had ran into the popcorn cart.

Then, before she could remove the popcorn pieces from her person, her mother and the Debutante Junior League director burst through the crowds, ordering Justin and Duke to leave, while Viola was scolded by her mother for not being "ladylike". _'What about them not being gentlemanly?' _She starkly responded within her head as she spat out pieces of popcorn and reached down her dress to retrieve stray pieces. _Some carnival._

After almost an hour of lecturing from her mother, Viola was finally freed from her duties at the carnival, and told to leave so she didn't make a mess of anything else. Viola didn't mind; she would rather be making 'messes' than behaving as a debutante would.

Leaving the Carnival area, she looked left and right for a place to collect her thoughts. Spotting a park bench in a shady area, she headed towards it, thankful for the privacy that it offered. Sitting down with a huff, she let her bag fall carelessly to the grassy ground. Already distracted, she hardly noticed as her bag top popped open and her 'guy' clothes began to spill out.

Behind the walls of the carnival, Duke was cleaning his nose up at one of the sinks the clowns use to do their makeup. Once done, he decided it was time to leave. _Some carnival._ Although formerly disappointed with not kissing Olivia, now he only felt bad for screwing up the carnival and for Viola, who had to deal with that douche bag Justin Drayton. As he looked up from the ground he saw that several yards in front of him sat the girl in the red dress – Viola. Approaching her from behind he made sure to make some noise, so as to not startle her.

"Um, Viola, right?" He stood about two feet from the bench and watched as she abruptly stood up and seemed to fumble a little.

"Oh. It's you. Yea, hey, I'm really sorry about your nose."

"What?" he brought his fingers up to his nose as he remembered, "Oh. That's alright. I wanted to apologize though, for getting into it with your ex." Subconsciously, he realized he wasn't as nervous as he usually would be. He couldn't put his finger on it, but there was something about this girl, something_ different_. Something _familiar_. '_Maybe the way she had resorted to tackling Justin in order to stop the fight_', he thought, chuckling to himself.

Viola smiled, it was refreshing to have him refer to Justin as her ex instead of her boyfriend, "It's okay. He can be kind of a jerk sometimes."

Letting out a soft laugh, Duke grinned, "Yea, I know." A moment of silence passed as the two just smiled, enjoying their mutual bashing of Justin. After a second though, Duke broke the comfortable silence, "I know your name, but we haven't officially met," he couldn't help a blush creep across his face as he thought of their kiss, "I'm Duke. Duke Orsino. Your brother is my roommate at Illyria."

Viola smiled and they both made a move forward to shake hands, but before they could, Duke's foot bumped something and he looked down. That was when he saw the tip of the red and white plaid shirt, and the wig of hair that looked sharply familiar.

"Whoa." Duke took a couple steps back and Viola looked down to look at her backpack, her face filling with horror. Duke returned his gaze to Viola and looked at her incredulously, "What – what the hell?! You, you need to start explaining yourself right now." He thrust his finger towards Viola and was raising his voice. _His roommate was a girl?_

_Shit._ "Duke, Duke, shh. Listen," Viola tried to take the calm approach, stepping over her stuff and looking around them, the few people walking by were casting a few wary glances over towards them. If one of them happened to know her mom, or, God forbid come over to Duke and her – no, she couldn't let her cover blow. "Duke, stop yelling." She tried to reach out to him, but he only pushed her arms away.

"Stop yelling?" How could he? He gestured towards the backpack, still raising his voice, "There's a, a _wig_ in your bag and you want me to stop yelling?" People were really starting to look now, and some were even pausing from walking to look on.

But now, it was Viola's turn to yell, "Hey!" she shouted, surpassing his volume and shoving his shoulders with her hands, causing him to stagger just a little and shut up. "Duke," she insisted, taking the dominant position in the conversation now, "I'll explain everything if you just listen to me." Seeing that he wasn't quite buying, she tried again, "Please. Duke it's me – come on you know me. Just let me explain."

Grudgingly he nodded, "Alright," he crossed his hands over his chest, "go."

Rolling her eyes she turned to pack up her bag, "Not here, dufus, everyone's staring." For the first time, Duke noticed the looks the two were getting and nodded, following Viola, or Sebastian, down a ways to another park bench where she sat, dropping her stuff to the bench to her right.

Duke hesitantly sat down, a couple feet away, for once, waiting patiently with his jaw clenched.

It was then that Viola sloppily slipped on the shirt over her dress and arranged her wig. Duke watched her semi-transformation, waiting for her explanation. When she did explain, his face remained still and unreadable except for the occasional nod.

"So," Viola concluded, "I'm sorry I lied to you, Duke. I had to. And I know you'll want me to turn myself in but hey," she said, removing her wig, "thanks for being a good roommate." It was then when she punched him in the shoulder and a beat later, he couldn't help but smirk.

"I – I can't believe I'm doing this." Taking in a deep breath he half laughed at himself, what could he be thinking? "I won't out you." When he saw her start to smile he gave his reasons, "I mean, hey, anything to screw over Cornwall and Drayton right? And I mean," he scratched his neck, "what you're doing is…pretty cool." He nodded respectfully and offered his fist up to Viola, "You're the man."

Viola accepted his fist bump and nodded, "Hell yea." And so, their promise was sealed.


End file.
